


Melon Flavour

by pixie_rings



Series: Future Fish Babies [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternative Universe - Future Fish Babies, First Date, First Kiss, M/M, lovechildren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5700229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixie_rings/pseuds/pixie_rings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takumi and Sakurai's first date, and first kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melon Flavour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BakaPandy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakaPandy/gifts).



> If you're wondering who these characters are, they're from [Bakapandy](http://bakapandy.tumblr.com/)'s [lovechild AU](http://futurefishbabies.tumblr.com/). They're a ton of fun, for real.
> 
> Just for some background: Takumi and Umiko are Makoto and Haru's twins, Sakurai is Rin and Sousuke's son.

Umiko’s got that look on her face, that look she gets when she’s about to say something that’s going to make Takumi’s face burn and his tongue tied.

Takumi has to consciously will his hands to not squeeze his juice box on reflex and get mango juice all over himself. He sets it down, to spare himself further embarrassment.

“Soooo…” she begins, her Cheshire grin widening. Takumi gulps. “Have you kissed yet?”

Takumi lets out a horrified squeak, his face practically glowing red. “Th-that’s none of your business!” he yelps as she cackles, slapping her thigh in mirth.

It is, however, something that then begins to torment Takumi’s every waking moment. He tells himself they’ve only been dating for a week, that they haven’t seen each other since that day with the joint practice. He’d always thought that he’d be watching from the sidelines, torn in two as he watched Sakurai and Umiko become _Sakurai-and-Umiko_ , witnessing the inevitable pull of childhood friendship turned to love that united both their fathers and Sakurai’s. That hadn’t happened. Instead Sakurai had taken Takumi’s hand, behind the Samezuka pool, near the vending machines, face flushed and words tripping over themselves, and Takumi’s heart had felt like it would burst from his chest and soar away into the sky.

Of course he’d told Umiko. He told Umiko everything anyway, why would his sudden and shocking acquisition of the boyfriend he’d been pining after since forever be any different? Umiko had screeched and hugged him, and then everything had been fine, until now, with that ridiculous question. That ridiculous question he doesn’t yet have an answer to. He doesn’t think indirect kisses from shared drinks through the years really count.

They haven’t even had their first date yet, and first kisses are important milestones. There’s time.

.

Takumi has no idea what to wear. What do people even wear on dates? He can hear the Umiko-voice in the back of his head sarcastically reply ‘clothes’ and that’s no help at all. He holds up a t-shirt with a cute-looking beluga whale on it, frowning.

“Looking for something specific?”

He jumps, clutching the t-shirt to his chest with a strangled cry. “N-no, of course not!”

Makoto stands in the doorway and gives the room a once-over. It looks like Takumi’s wardrobe has had a violent argument with every article of clothing he owns.

“Takumi…” he begins, tapping his chin. “Do you… have a date?”

Takumi’s face is an open book when he blushes to the roots of his hair. Makoto chuckles.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find you something,” he says reassuringly. Takumi usually trusts his father, but with his penchant for the Canadian lumberjack aesthetic, he’s not entirely thrilled. It takes them another half-hour of rooting around and frowning thoughtfully until they stumble upon something that could work. Takumi didn’t even remember having the pale blue jeans, but they go well with the dark blue t-shirt. Makoto gives him a pensive look.

“Something’s missing… maybe we should ask your sister?”

Takumi stares at him. Umiko dresses like she fell off a jumble sale stall in the dark. Makoto catches his look and stifles a laugh.

“Scratch that, then. It just seems like it needs something else…” He punches the palm of his hand. “Wait!”

He disappears and returns about a minute or two later with a blue-grey cardigan Takumi’s never seen before in his life. He tugs it on and it ties everything together nicely.

“Is this Papa’s?” he asks. Makoto nods.

“He’s never worn it, I don’t think he’ll mind.” He smiles approvingly as Takumi looks himself over in the mirror. “Very handsome. You’re going to make your date swoon.”

Takumi flushes slightly, but then he realises his father doesn’t know who he’s seeing. Nerves flare up in the pit of his stomach. Should he tell him? Is it too soon? Will he approve? He can feel the onset of anxiety again.

“By the way, what are they like?” Makoto asks. “Are they cute?”

Takumi’s flush deepens. Of course he’s _cute_ , it’s _Sakurai_. Sakurai with his choppy hair and blue blue eyes and slightly pointed teeth, with his tan lines and broad shoulders and tendency to pepper his sentences with English when he can’t remember something in Japanese, his determination and his laugh and his kindness… Takumi nods. Makoto smiles.

“Very good!” He looks at his watch. “What time is your date?”

“Ah, we’re meeting at one!” Takumi says. It’s quarter to. Takumi yelps. “I’ll never get there in time!”

“Don’t worry, I can drive you!” Makoto says easily, and Takumi’s never been so grateful to his father before now.

He gets dropped off downtown, outside the station where Sakurai said they’d meet, and Makoto watches him rush off. When Takumi stops and greets a familiar face, Makoto huffs gently, making a mental note that he owes Haru a thousand yen.

.

When Takumi arrives, feeling tremendously guilty and about three times as anxious as he was before, Sakurai is waiting, leaning against the railing and looking like he’s just stepped from the pages of some magazine. Takumi wonders what good deeds he must have done in another life, to deserve such a reward in this one. He can see, out of the corner of his eye, a small group of girls sizing him up, and Takumi feels something he’s never felt before, an odd, gloating feeling.

“Sorry I’m late!” he says, clutching the strap of his messenger bag nervously. Sakurai grins, and even though it’s indulgent there’s still a hint of danger to it and he really has no right to be this handsome.

“No worries, I haven’t been waiting long.” He clears his throat. “Where do you wanna go?”

Takumi shrugs with a smile. “Wherever you want.”

He’s not prepared for Sakurai to blush and look away.

“I-is something wrong?” he asks, suddenly worried. Is there something wrong? Is he not attractive? Has Sakurai changed his mind?

Sakurai shakes his head. “You’re just… really cute,” he says, and Takumi is sure a volcanic eruption is colder than the temperature of his cheeks right now. How Sakurai can just say those sorts of things without having an aneurysm is so far beyond Takumi’s comprehension it’s at the other end of the galaxy.

“Th-th-th-” He tries to say something, he really does, but he literally can’t. Sakurai just laughs and takes his hand.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat!”

Takumi falls into step beside him, mentally hyperventilating at how easily Sakurai holds his hand in public. It’s a sensory overload. He just stares at Sakurai beside him, at how well that beanie suits him, at how his grey band t-shirt is tight across the shoulders but loosens over his stomach, and how Takumi wants to slip his hands underneath it and… He shakes his head. It’s far too soon into the relationship for such impure thoughts.

They pass the girls that had been eyeing Sakurai before, and they all look disappointed. Takumi feels slightly smug.

.

Turns out that today is cheat day. Takumi knows as well as any that Sakurai’s regimen is as strict as anything, so the plates of American-style pancakes at the American-style diner is a surprise, to say the least. So are the milkshakes.

“Is that any good?” he asks of Takumi’s vanilla milkshake. Takumi nods.

“Want to try?” He pushes it over. Sakurai grins and takes a quick slurp, lips catching the straw almost as if he knows that’s the only thing Takumi can focus on. His mind supplies, once again, the whole indirect kiss cliché and he feels like he’s going to spontaneously combust.

“That’s actually really good!” Sakurai says, surprised. “Want to try mine?”

Takumi isn’t a huge fan of almond, but he’ll make an exception for this. It’s another surprise when Sakurai presses his hand to his mouth and stares at him, intensely.

“What?” he asks. Does he have food on his face? Oh God, he might _die_ if he has food on his face. Sakurai reaches across the table and curls his fingers around Takumi’s.

“You really are too cute,” he says, grinning sheepishly.

Takumi feels like he might faint.

.

Takumi doesn’t know how he manages to make it through the rest of the date without having to be rushed to the hospital for having a heart attack. Sakurai is ridiculously handsome and gracious and far too smooth of an operator for Takumi to handle… at least until the claw machine. In the end, Takumi wins _him_ a soft toy Mudkip, much to Sakurai’s chagrin. Takumi also beats him at DDR. He’s still not quite sure how he manages it, but he does.

“You really can’t dance,” Takumi says with a laugh, sucking on the lollipop he’d impulsively bought at the sweetshop they’d passed. It tastes of victory.

“Entirely Sou-dad’s fault,” Sakurai grumbles. He then slings his arm around Takumi’s shoulders, pulls him close. “You’re cute even when you’re smug.”

Takumi nearly chokes on his lollipop. “You’re terrible!” he whines, burrowing his forehead into Sakurai’s shoulder. Sakurai just laughs.

They’ve somehow made their way back to the station, which means parting ways. Takumi doesn’t want it to end, and, by Sakurai’s hesitation, neither does he.

“Thank you for such a lovely day,” he murmurs, rubbing his arm nervously. Sakurai smiles.

“You don’t need to thank me, it was great,” he says. He reaches forward and takes Takumi’s hand, tugging him forward gently. With the other, he gets rid of the lollipop with a pop. Takumi flushes. Sakurai’s gaze is so intense, their faces are so close, somehow the whole world has become a bubble with only the two of them in it.

Sakurai’s lips press to his, Takumi presses back, heart pounding, fingers trembling in Sakurai’s grip, and time seems to dilate into a thousand years in just a few seconds.

Until it’s over, too soon. Sakurai pulls back, licks his lips.

“Melon,” he says, earning himself a gentle shove, which he laughs at. “I’ll see you soon,” he adds. Another quick peck and they go their separate ways. Takumi feels like he’s floating about a foot and a half off the ground.

It’s not until he’s already on the train home that he realises Sakurai stole his lollipop.

.

**Sakurai**  
_takahashi is mocking our son_  
_the piece of shit_  
_i’ll punch him_

_We have a son?_

**Sakurai**  
_how could you forget takumi junior?_  
  
_'why father?’_  
_you have broken his tiny mudkip heart_

_Oh, how awful of me._

**Sakurai**  
_your sarcasm is tearing this family apart takumi_

_I want a divorce._

**Sakurai**  
_you wound me_  
_no but seriously_  
_today was amazing_

_I can’t believe you kissed me in public, in front of everyone!_

**Sakurai**  
_you were too cute_  
_had to_  
_10/10 would do again_

_You’re so ridiculous_

**Sakurai**  
_you love it though_

Takumi buries his face in his pillow, too embarrassed to even look at his phone. Umiko, sitting on the floor and leaning against the bed, reads the text thread and whacks him in the side.

“You’re such a _dork_ ,” she says, laughing.

Takumi reads the text again, and begins typing, smiling without even realising it.

_Yes, I really do._


End file.
